by Douglas Hunter It’s been a long, drawn-out, complicated mess for the people of Three Mile Lake,” said Susan Pryke, mayor of the Township of Muskoka Lakes, in early December 2005. Toxic algae had bloomed in the lake in September, and everyone hoped it would disappear in a few weeks. But the bloom only […]

By Douglas Hunter In 2010, the Wikwemikong First Nation (Band 175) of eastern Manitoulin Island concluded a multi-year audit of plant and animal species at risk, with financial assistance from Environment Canada’s Habitat Stewardship Program and the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources’ Species at Risk Stewardship Fund. As a key component of Wikwemikong’s land-use planning, […]

Experts have long believed that 0ntario’s eastern cougar is locally extinct. But mounting evidence now suggests otherwise. Has the cat come back? Or did it never leave? By Douglas Hunter It was early autumn, 1968, and a teenaged Dave Anderson was booting along a gravel road in a light green Dodge half-ton pickup with his […]

From the lush Carolinian zone in the south to the spectacular boreal of the north, climate change threatens to bring forest ecosystems to the brink of collapse. Douglas Hunter reports on how global warming is changing Ontario’s landscape By Douglas Hunter In 1998, Stephen Murphy began noticing strangers in his neck of the woods. An […]

By Douglas Hunter As the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continued to unfold throughout the summer, Canadian scientists began considering the consequences of this unprecedented environmental disaster on the bird species that depend on the gulf region as a major winter stopover and migratory pathway.

Ottawa still refuses to recognize the economic benefits of clean lakes. By Douglas Hunter Illustration by Marco Cibola On March 4, the Obama administration marshaled enough bipartisan support to table legislation in Congress for the five-year, $650-million-a-year Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI). The U.S. government is determined to deal with pollution hot spots […]

By Douglas Hunter Since their introduction in the 1960s to North America through fish farms and research facilities, Asian carp have become an environmental disaster. Having escaped Arkansas aquaculture farms, the invasive fish have established self-sustaining populations in the Mississippi River basin. Their northward migration reached a crisis point in late 2009, when Asian carp […]

By Douglas Hunter Northern Ontario residents witnessing forestry companies’ large-scale spraying operations carried out from helicopters want to know why an activity that is considered harmful in the south is acceptable in their neck of the woods. Opposition has been growing to the use of products containing glyphosate, the active herbicide in weed killers such […]

By Douglas Hunter On July 15, the coalition group Citizens Concerned for Michipicoten Bay (CCMB) lost a seven-year fight against a proposed traprock quarry on the eastern shore of Lake Superior. The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) declined to overturn an amendment the municipality of Wawa made to its official plan that allows Superior Aggregates Co. […]

The Province’s green energy act isn’t so green when wind farms threaten sensitive habitat and wildlife. By Douglas Hunter In November 2008, environmental groups and the energy industry south of the border announced a remarkable collaboration. They formed the American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) with the aim of ensuring that locations for wind farms are […]

by Douglas Hunter On March 13, 2007, a draft climate change bill was introduced in the British House of Commons that promised to make Britain the first country to set legally binding carbon reduction targets. The bill called for a 60 percent reduction by 2050, with specific targets to be determined every five years.

by Douglas Hunter The ability of hikers to coexist peacefully with dirt bikers and ATV drivers is being put to the test in the largest municipal forest in Ontario, as Simcoe County introduces a new policy aimed at ending unapproved and environmentally harmful use of off-road vehicles by giving their drivers approved places to play.

by Douglas Hunter In the summer of 2007, U.S. farmers were expected to plant the largest corn crop since 1944 to cash in on the boom in ethanol as an alternative fuel for use in combatting global warming. Meanwhile, an unpublished report by Environment Canada scientists found no statistical difference between tailpipe emissions of vehicles […]

by Douglas Hunter The 30,000 Islands of eastern Georgian Bay attract many recreational users, from boaters to anglers to campers to cottagers. But in recent years, it’s fallen mainly to the sea kayakers to keep the Crown land islands as pristine as possible for everyone who enjoys them.

by Douglas Hunter Canadian Bioenergy Corporation has put forward a proposal to build western Canada’s first large-scale biodiesel refinery near Edmonton, Alberta. It would produce an estimated 114 million litres a year from canola oil. The Government of Ontario announced a plan to introduce “green” licence plates in the spring of 2008 for fuel-efficient vehicles, […]

Is local opposition to wind turbines based on concern for wildlife or property values? by Douglas Hunter One of the most vexatious aspects of the effort to reduce our collective carbon footprint is the way we generate electricity. Although wind power may well be the most cost-effective, zero-emissions generator, it has also proven to be […]

by Douglas Hunter Mild winters, high evaporation and low precipitation are being blamed for continuing declines in Great Lakes water levels. On December 6, 2007, Environment Canada’s Level News warned that in the summer of 2008, the levels of Lakes Michigan and Huron could sink past the record lows of the mid-1960s.

By Douglas Hunter A team of U.S. and U.K. scientists has warned that climate change could place unique Antarctic marine life in jeopardy because of predacious invaders. “Sharks are going to arrive in Antarctica as long as the warming trend continues, a bit more slowly than crabs.

By Douglas Hunter Notorious for dirty power plants that fill Ontario’s skies with acid rain, smog and greenhouse gases, the state of Ohio is finally poised to take a great leap forward in switching to green energy.

Wednesday July 22, 2009 Posted by: Douglas Hunter The coalition group Citizens Concerned for Michipicoten Bay (CCMB) has lost a seven-year fight against a proposed traprock quarry on the eastern shore of eastern Superior. Its last-gasp attempt to stop the development was an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to overturn an amendment to […]

by Douglas Hunter When four American white pelicans touched down in Owen Sound harbour last May, their unexpected arrival made headlines. The sighting was one of several in the spring of 2008 in the central Great Lakes. Pelicans were also spotted on Michigan’s Saginaw Bay, at Cheboygan on the Straits of Mackinac and along Michigan’s […]

Aquaculture has been charged with multiple crimes against the environment. But today fish farms must abide by stringent regulations while many wild fish populations are being decimated. Can we learn to live with this industry?

And the massasauga and the wood turtle, along with most of our reptile populations, which are now in rapid decline due to habitat loss, roads, poaching (turtles) and even senseless killing (snakes). Can we bring these cold-blooded creatures back from the brink?